In Charlestown, the case of the vanishing Honda

Dude, where's my car? It's the panicked question tipster Dan Adamson asked himself after returning home from work only to find his Honda Civic missing from the spot in which he had parked in Charlestown. Adamson tells GlobeWatch he left for work on May 15, walking through his neighborhood to catch the bus, but never saw any signs that warned of roadwork the city planned to start that day on Bartlett, Elm, and Green streets.

When he returned home that evening, Adamson says he still hadn't seen any signs about roadwork and was shocked and confused to discover his car had vanished. He says he called Boston police, then the city's Transportation Department, and finally, the City Hall hot line that night hoping to find out what happened to his car, but "No one gave me a good answer," he says. It turns out his car was at the city tow lot in South Boston, impounded for a $75 ticket issued just after 9 that morning for parking in a "No Standing or Stopping Zone."

Adamson's roommate, Wook Kim, says he parks his own car on Green Street every day and leaves for work at 6 a.m., but never saw signs or fliers about the roadwork either. Kim says that when he got home that night, he had heard from some NStar workers that the signs had been taken down from Green Street before 6 p.m. and moved to another street. Kim says the roadwork project caught everyone off guard. "Now the neighborhood knows," says Kim, but until the day the work actually began, "I didn't think anything like this was going to happen." Kim says the city never provided the required 48 hours of warning before towing cars. "It definitely wasn't 48 hours [notice]; I don't even think it was 24 hours."

A visit by a Globe reporter to Adamson's neighborhood Monday found Bartlett, Elm, and Green streets being prepared for new pavement. Temporary signs alerting residents of the work, with the dates of the work - May 15 to May 19 - added in black marker on silver duct tape, were still posted along Bartlett and Elm streets and part of Green Street. But none was visible on one residential block of Green between Bartlett and High streets. One Bartlett Street resident told the reporter the signs were posted late on May 14 - less than 24 hours before work began - a practice she said was common in Charlestown.

The city responds
Repaving work on Bartlett, Elm, and Green streets is being done by the Department of Public Works, said Jennifer Mehigan, a city spokeswoman. "According to Public Works, signs were placed on the streets 48 hours before work was to be started and more than 1,000 leaflets were distributed throughout the neighborhood," she stated in an e-mail. Mehigan stated that she had no information about where the leaflets were placed or any explanation for Adamson and Kim's insistence that they never saw a flier, despite Kim's car being parked on an affected street during the time of the leafleting. Only four vehicles were towed from Green Street on May 15, Mehigan said.

WHO'S IN CHARGE
Dennis Royer,
Chief of Public Works and Transportation
Department of Public Works
Room 714
1 City Hall Plaza
Boston, MA 02201
617-635-4900